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Treaty

Choctaw and Chickasaw at Doaksville, Near Fort Towson, Choctaw Country (1854)

In 1854 the Choctaw and Chickasaw redrew the Chickasaw district boundary inside the Choctaw Nation to end a dispute.

Signed
November 4, 1854
Senate
Ratified

What happened

This agreement was made on November 4, 1854, at Doaksville, near Fort Towson, in the Choctaw country. Unusually, the parties were two Native nations, not a Native nation and a United States commissioner. Five commissioners named by the Choctaw tribe and five named by the Chickasaw tribe signed. It was made "subject to the approval of the President and the Senate of the United States."

The preamble explains that a convention made at the same place on January 17, 1837, had set up a Chickasaw district within the Choctaw nation. "Difficulties have arisen" over the boundary line between that district and the other Choctaw districts, and the tribes wanted "no longer" to have a dispute about it.

Article 1 replaces the 1837 boundaries. It describes a new line starting on the north bank of the Red River at the mouth of Island Bayou, running northwest along that bayou, then north to the Canadian River, west along the Canadian to the one hundredth degree of west longitude, and south to the Red River. A small offset was to keep Allen's or Wa-pa-nacka academy two miles inside the Chickasaw district.

Article 2 had the Chickasaws hire a surveyor and pay all costs of marking the eastern line by August 1, 1855. A commissioner appointed by the chief of each Choctaw district would supervise. The page shows it ratified February 28, 1855 and proclaimed April 10, 1855.

Good to know. This agreement redrew a line between two nations; it did not cede land to the United States.

Summarized with AI assistance from 3 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error

What the sources say, and how this was checked

Well supported by the sources below.

  1. difficulties have arisen between said tribes in regard to the line of boundary, between the Chickasaw district and other districts of the Choctaw nationTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Choctaw and Chickasaw at Doaksville, Near Fort Towson, Choctaw Country (1854)
  2. in lieu of the boundaries established under article second of the convention and agreement entered into between said tribes, January 17thTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Choctaw and Chickasaw at Doaksville, Near Fort Towson, Choctaw Country (1854)
  3. the Chickasaws employ a surveyor or engineer to run out and mark the eastern line of the Chickasaw districtTribal Treaties Database (Oklahoma State University): Choctaw and Chickasaw at Doaksville, Near Fort Towson, Choctaw Country (1854)

Research notes. The treaty text is the only source cited; it does not say what happened afterward (including later treaties), so this story stops at the signed terms. The agreement redraws a line between two nations; it does not cede land to the United States. The 1837 convention it replaces is described here only as the 1854 text recites it.

What happened next

Everything the record holds about this land and this treaty, in order: what earlier agreements said, what this one did, and what the United States, the courts and the nations did afterwards.

Who is doing the work today

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Sources

  1. treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-choctaw-and-chickasaw-1854-0652reference work
    Treaty with the Choctaw and Chickasaw, 1854 Nov. 4, 1854. | 10 Stat., 1116.

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